CKEditor 5 v18.0.0 with custom table selection and pasting nested lists from Word
We are happy to announce the release of CKEditor 5 v18.0.0 that introduces two major and frequently requested features: selecting multiple cells, rows or columns as well as support for pasting indented lists from Word. In addition to that, we added the text transformation feature to all builds and enabled responsive toolbars in inline and balloon editors. Read on for more details about these and other improvements!
# New rich text editor features
The two features added in CKEditor 5 v18.0.0, improved table selection and support for pasting indented lists from Word, were high on the “most wanted” list for our community and customers alike, so we hope you will appreciate seeing them introduced.
As always, we are looking forward to your feedback and are thankful for any comments, recommendations, and bug reports that are coming our way.
Go through the list below to learn more about the new rich text editor features and make sure to check out the demos and documentation that accompany them.
# Custom table selection
Support for tabular data is a crucial feature for any advanced rich text editor. We are happy to report that this release introduces the possibility to select multiple cells, rows and columns. It makes it much easier to apply certain formatting or styling to an arbitrary table fragment.
You can test it and learn how to install this feature in the Table feature guide. Custom table selection is enabled by default in all builds containing the table feature.
# Pasting nested lists from Word
Since lots of users frequently move their content between an online WYSIWYG editor and word processors such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs, preserving the document structure is crucial for a good content editing experience. CKEditor 5 strives to support flawless pasting from third-party applications and this release brings yet another feature that can improve it: pasting nested lists from Word.
What is even better, however, is that support for indented lists pasted from Word is a community contribution authored by Guilherme Henrique. We are happy to add it to our codebase and release it for everyone to enjoy! Thanks again, Guilherme! ❤️
You can test it and learn how to install this feature in the Paste from Word feature guide.
# Improvements
Besides the new rich text editor features, we have also prepared many improvements. Here are the most important ones.
# Changes in builds
So far, automatic toolbar item grouping that made the editor toolbar responsive was disabled in inline and balloon editor builds. However, this is no longer the case, and the toolbars in these editor builds are now responsive, too.
In addition to that, the balloon system will now better position itself in relation to the viewport, which resolves many issues with certain balloons being rendered off-screen.
Last but not least, the automatic text transformation feature that provides support for autocorrect options is now enabled by default in all builds.
# Other improvements
- The editor will not crash on pasting nested tables when the table properties plugin is enabled.
- Active cell and header cell styles were improved.
- The editor will not crash anymore when the last row is removed.
- The merge cells left or right options are now back.
- The table properties dialog will now correctly render when the editor is configured to use an RTL language.
- The performance of the text transformation feature was improved.
- A range of issues with inserting multi-block content over multi-block selection was fixed.
- A range of issues in the renderer was fixed.
# Breaking changes
This release introduces some breaking changes. Make sure to check the changelog when upgrading to CKEditor 5 v18.0.0.
# What’s next?
We will continue working on new rich text editing features and improving the existing ones along the way. The next features on our radar are:
- Table selection – stage II. First, our goal is to improve integration with the clipboard, which boils down to handling pasting in a better way. Then, we plan to improve the UX of the whole feature.
- Handling variations of
font-familynotations and partial matches. - Improved font retention when pasting from Word.
- Migration to a monorepo. Our current multirepo infrastructure, while noble, introduces too much overhead for us and the community. The tooling for monorepos also evolved throughout the last 4 years, which makes this an easier choice.
Follow the iteration 31 roadmap for the news and to learn more.
# Download
CKEditor 5 builds can be downloaded from the CDN, npm or as zip packages. Read more in the Installation guide.
# License
CKEditor 5 is available under Open Source and Commercial licenses. Full details can be found on our license page.
# Reporting issues and contributing
You can report all issues for any of the CKEditor 5 packages in the main CKEditor 5 repository. Read more in the Reporting issues guide.
# Support
The CKEditor 5 documentation is growing and always up to date. Community support is available through Stack Overflow. Read more in the Getting support guide.